The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

In the first round against the Capitals, they blocked 161 shots in seven games, a whopping 23 a game that leads all teams in the playoffs.

The Bruins encountered a similar game plan against the Maple Leafs in the first round. Toronto blocked 141 shots, but the Bruins overcame by getting to the front of the net and making shot-blockers obsolete.

If the Bruins can attack the net with their bodies rather than their slap shots, they can still get around the Rangers. It not only falls on big boys like Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton, but perhaps using defensemen like Zdeno Chara and even Dougie Hamilton closer to the net.

In three games against the Bruins during the regular season, the Rangers blocked 60 shots. Top-pair defensemen Dan Girardi (12) and Ryan McDonagh (11) combined for over a third of them.

2. Getting out quick

The Rangers’ size up-front presents a problem for every team, and the Bruins may not be equipped to handle it due to their injuries on the back end.

Andrew Ference, Wade Redden and Dennis Seidenberg are all expected to sit out Game 1 and their return dates are unknown. Seidenberg is a warrior down low and Redden has decent size; despite being smaller, Ference has learned how to hold his own inside.

Those three will be replaced by rookies Matt Bartkowski, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug. Bartkowski and Hamilton have decent size, but struggle against bigger men. Listed at 5-foot-9, Krug will get pushed around by players like Rick Nash, Brian Boyle and Ryane Clowe.

The Bruins were mostly very good at clearing the puck and getting quick breakouts against the Maple Leafs, whose forecheck was inconsistent. Getting out quickly — and avoiding situations where the young and fragile defensemen have to play their net — will be important for the Bruins.

3. Defensive matchups

David Krejci’s line took advantage of the Maple Leafs’ poor defensive depth in the first round.

Toronto coach Randy Carlyle used his second pairing (Jake Gardiner and Cody Franson) on the line in the early games of the series and it backfired big-time when Krejci and his linemates exploded. It wasn’t until late in Game 4 that they were treated like a No. 1 line.

Rangers coach John Tortorella won’t make the same mistake. Girardi and McDonagh will see much of the time against Krejci, Horton and Lucic.

Girardi and McDonagh are more complete players than any of the Leafs’ defensemen. Putting up the same kind of other-worldly numbers is unlikely for the Krejci line. Still, they can produce if they get to the net (see No. 1), but the pressure will be more on the other lines to step up in this series.

4. Maintaining possession

This is related to key No. 2 — the longer and more often the Bruins have the puck, the less of an issue the defensive replacements will be.

The Finn goes against the best goalie in the world in Henrik Lundqvist, who had back-to-back shutouts in winning Games 6 and 7 against the Capitals. He didn’t allow any regulation goals in three games in that series.

Lundqvist has been a certified Bruins-killer: in 30 career games, he’s 21-7-0 with a 1.67 GAA and .943 save percentage with six shutouts.

Rask was terrific in the first round, but he’ll need to be even better against the Rangers. There were a couple goals Rask allowed where he was screened and couldn’t see the shot.

As unrealistic as it may sound, Rask needs to make saves in this series even when he can’t see the puck. Losing a game 1-0 is a distinct possibility when Hank’s in the other crease.